The present invention relates to the combustion of water-in-oil emulsion fuels. More specifically, it relates to an apparatus and a method for the combustion of water-in-oil emulsion fuels, which enables a great increase in the combustion efficiency of the fuel by utilizing the water-gas shift reaction of the water-in-oil emulsion.
It is known to mix fuels with water and burn them as so-called water-in-oil emulsions. In these emulsion fuels, however, the amount of water added is limited by the necessity of preventing heat-loss of the flame in order to increase the combustion efficiency of the fuel, or achieving complete combustion with the theoretical amount of air. Furthermore, since the combustion efficiency of a fuel varies significantly depending upon the structure of the combustion apparatus, the type of fuel, the heating conditions, and so forth, water-in-oil emulsions have poor general-purpose properties. Thus, the effective upper limit of the amount of water which can be added is about 20% or less, and it is difficult to reduce the amount of fuel consumed by a proportion exceeding 15%.
It has thus been desired to develop an apparatus and method for the combustion of such emulsion fuels which enables an increase in the water content of the fuel, and which conducts combustion at high efficiency.